


The Dog Days

by Vdeviva



Series: The Dog Days [1]
Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dysfunctional Family, Erisk is an asshole, F/M, Implied Relationships, M/M, Underage Sex, mutant protests
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-11 17:30:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2076837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vdeviva/pseuds/Vdeviva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles is a young mutant father, who despite being broke manages to run a house (actually an appartment) with 3 mutant teenagers and two children . Erik, a promutants activist,somehow gets the idea that Charles is neglecting and hiding them.<br/>This is inspired in a kinkmeme</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lights Out

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction in a really long time so I would appreciate some feedback.  
> I labeled it mature because it will surely grow to be so, even if right now it is pretty general.

Charles was crying. This was very evident to Raven the second that she and Pietro walked into the room. The dingy apartment stank of alcohol and there were paper stacks and rows of books scattered across the floor. The lights were off but the poor quality lids on the window let all the street light in, making for a sort of depressing ambient, and Charles was there sitting on their ragged leather couch, his hands practically pulling at his hair and he was sobbing madly.

Raven wished she’d have time to stop Pietro from doing any rude remark or any sudden movements, but well, there was no stopping the cocky extravagantly dressed teenager. Whatever he intended to do he would do it. She had barely opened her mouth when Peter he was sitting on the couch, arms around a very startled Charles (who presumably had not noticed their entrance) and saying “It will get better” in the most comforting tone he could muster. Pietro’s (okay Peter) regard for Charles was something quite heart-warming at times, but in this case it was obvious that even Charles was surprised as he wearily returned the embrace.

Though the scene was almost unbearably cute (Peter had such rare fits of tenderness) Raven understood nothing. “What’s going on?”

Charles was wearily ending the hug as he dried his tears with a handkerchief that Peter had produced out of somewhere (Raven almost thought she could recognize it from the neighbour’s laundry). “I can always steal some cash _prof_ ” ( He called him _Prof_ or even Professor because it felt weird calling him dad, but it also felt way weirder just calling him Charles, at least for him.) Peter continued utterly ignoring Raven. Charles gave him a scornful look and reached for the scattered papers on the floor which Raven now noticed were bills, a huge amount of presumably unpaid bills. 

“I’m sorry for that. I hadn’t quite realized that you had come home” said Charles still with a small voice, directing his gaze towards Raven. He stacked the papers on the table and tightly closed his robe. Peter looked slightly hurt for the look he had just received but instead of pouting he began moving around the room and putting some order, this was itself a worrisome feat since Peter had no regard for tidiness ever; but he clearly seemed to think that this might help Charles’ spirits. He didn’t set out to do much, but the intention was what mattered Raven guessed. 

She shrugged and tried to turn the lights on just to discover that they were not working. “Oh” she murmured back at Charles, just looking at his eyes she knew: they were again without a dime and the light had been cut off, again… She wondered where Hank was and Alex for that matter, and everybody else who lived in this ridiculously small three room apartment. 

_Hank is taking Scott and Ororo to some school trip that I can’t for my life figure how I’m gonna pay for and Alex is, bless the boy, at his fast food restaurant dream of a job… And I do my best to keep us afloat, thank you…_

Wow, that had been fast, either Charles was getting a better hang of his powers or he had just projected out of sheer frustration. Raven suddenly felt guilty that she and Peter had been having a good relaxed time at the movies. She was one of the few in the house who could actually keep job though.

_I heard that… It’s okay that you go to the movies though, I needed, ehm time alone._

Peter seemed quite satisfied with his cleaning and slouched back into the couch propped his feet on the table and was about to turn the Tv on (courtesy of his stolen goods) when he realised the obvious: no lights, no electricity meant no tv. At that point his face fell and Charles sighed his way. “Payday is the day after tomorrow”… 

 

_______________________________________________

 

Raven often wondered exactly what had driven Charles to adopt quite so many runaway/orphaned kids, being that he himself had so little financial stability. Things had been more or less okay when it was just her, Hank and even Alex. But then Charles had just melted at the sight of that scruffy silver haired twelve year old being arrested for god knows what and naturally they had taken him in; that had been years ago but Charles since had a soft spot for Peter and refused to admit that the boy caused more trouble than what was worth. Then one stormy night, Ororo knocked at the door like a little stray cat and she just never left. She had a soothing quality though, and her big inquisitive eyes were probably the only source of tranquillity in such a home. She could often be found by the window submerged into an adventures book that Charles had bought her out of his miserable salary. Finally, the terribly inconvenient Scott had followed his brother and that had really put them at peril of being discovered. In the end Charles had winded up blindfolding little Scotty, as he insisted on calling him (they had all suffered their share of silly love names: Ravy, Hanky, Petey) anyway, Charles had come up with a weird eye condition that explained it and he nervously brought it up whenever a passer-by stared at Scott. He also mentioned it at every school meeting and wielded it bravely as an excuse for Scott’s bad behaviour at any occasion. 

“Well I’m glad that Ororo and Scott are on that school trip, they get really scared with darkness” That was Hank’s entrance to the kitchen waving a candle on his hand and a pile of books under his arm; it seemed finals were just around the corner. Hank was the only one that attended college because he was a bit of a prodigy boy, but he was younger than both Raven and Alex. 

“Yeah I really don’t want to change sheets tonight, or have lightings under my window.” She rolled her eyes, Ororo was mostly a quiet and well-mannered girl, but she could conjure some dreadful storms when having a nightmare and she still wetted the bed…

“Pfft, you think that is difficult? Scotty refuses to sleep with the lights off. It’s hell in our room when the power is out” They both sighed in an understanding and tired manner. They knew that without Charles they would be out on the streets, alone and alienated from everybody. Each young member of that uncanny family owed the also youngish telepath more than they could tell. Yet could he not please for the love of all gods keep a steady job? 

After an awkward silence Hank inquired about her job and Raven made an effort at small talk but her mind was elsewhere. At night the apartment was bubbling with activity, even with the lights out. Charles would work hard on his thesis at night, which was the only moment of rest that he could scramble from his busy dog days; Hank was always studying and sometimes if Pietro wasn’t occupying the living room (“his realm” according to him) they’d study together, though not exactly in silence. Alex would usually pop in the mid-afternoon, having finished his shift at that smelly fish and chips restaurant, sometimes he’d rush into the shower announcing that he had a date (Hank’s eye would go wide at this, before he quickly turned to some book, coughing uncomfortably). Peter was usually restless, coming in and out of the apartment, arguing that a boy needed exercise; sometimes, it was the cops who brought him back, though that was not so often now that Peter was getting a hold of his ability. Scott and Ororo both took forever to put to bed and if Charles’s couldn’t read them a bed time story they’d be fidgety and teary eyed for hours, they both had nightmares (actually Scott's bordered on night terrors).

And if this uncanny family wasn’t a mouthful already, they all had powers that not one of them could properly control.

“Night sis” Smuack. Raven barely registered Pietro’s kiss on her cheek. “Night bro” Smuack, a gust of wind disarranged Hank’s papers, and a second later the silver haired boy had disappear.

The door to the boys’ room opened. Click. “Night bro” Smuack. 

“Ew! How many times have I told you? No goodnight kisses Peter!” Alex yelled in an exasperated but weary tone behind the door. 

“Night Prof” Smuack.

Less than a second later Pietro laid on their ragged leather couch, a blanket draped across him, and Ororo’s pillow on his head, well she wasn’t going to use it today so well… He was already snoring. 

“Why does he bother? It’s only a kiss on the cheek” For a moment she thought that Hank meant Pietro and was about to scold him, the boy clearly needed affection and in this house they weren’t going to hold that against him; but no, Hank’s nervous eyes were staring at the half opened door of his room, where Alex was presumably still cursing under his breath.

“I think it’s hard for him to accept love” No wonder, after everything Alex had been put through, and at such a young age. Memories of Charles running into the night carrying her on his arms, with both Hank and Alex tugging behind him on the mud, flashed before her eyes.  
“I think he appreciates it though, you know, _our_ love.”


	2. Gimme Shelter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn that Pietro has a horrible taste on men, we meet a fancy Emma, Raven gets an interesting opportunity, we get to see little Stormy hating her school attire and a threat hangs over Alex's head. And they are all still very poor and very much a family.

Well it was a convulsive time, that couldn’t be argued, for the small family in the little apartment above Colombus road things were just as hard. How many protests could break in a day? The streets of New York were always packed with different kinds of rallies, civil rights, gay activists, peace rallies against the war and even the mutants rights marches, which were breaking now too often for the likes of Charles. Tension could be felt for in the air and he could barely keep their family safe from the wide and violent world that threatened to push into his life at any moment. Although most of his worries were focused on the imminent fear of Alex getting drafted, (he’d filled out pages and pages on draft lottery probability)he still had more than enough time to worry about the mutant hate crimes that seemed to be washing over the city. It was getting hard for all of them to keep their head under the water, especially for Scott and Hank both of whom had somewhat visible mutations. 

As if that wasn’t enough he had probably the worst salary that a college professor had ever been paid, and without Raven’s and Alex’s jobs (and the occasional theft by Peter) they would have been out in the streets. Curiously enough Charles’ worries seemed to attack him not at night but with the rise of the day. He would always be awake a few minutes before the alarm went on, but he’d always wait for Raven’s knock on the door to get up.

“Charles I over slept, we are running late!” Raven half said, half grunted holding toothbrush on her mouth, her other hand expertly combing her hair in a braid down her back. Behind her something, or someone, rushed through the apartment, merely a blur of silver and rock and roll t-shirts. “We are out of Nutella, again!” there was dread in Peter’s voice.

“You’ll still be on time with him Raven, is Hank up?” He picked 

“Yeah, but someone has to take Scott and Ororo to school, and Alex slept out again.” Her look was defiant and left to place for arguments. She had drama club in the afternoon and she’d be damned if she spent it in detention because of Charles’ laziness. 

“Fine, fine Hank and I will deal with that.”

He dragged himself out of bed and inhaled deeply, today was going to be another busy day. He threw a man blouse over his head and zipped in some caqui pants before emerging from his room. In the kitchen counter Ororo cried loudly every time Peter yanked her hair or brushed too harshly. 

“I don’t want to wear that silly hat today” she pouted as she pointed at the flowery felt hat that lay next to her on the counter. Peter shrugged as he did final touches to Ororo’s ponytail, when she was younger he liked to put ribbons on it but now she wouldn’t let him.

“I bought you that hat, you used to like it.” He looked a bit hurt, but Ororo was a smart girl and knew better than to be swayed by this, she stared him back.

“You didn’t _buy_ it. Why do I have to hide my hair? You don’t even dye it anymore.” Truth enough Peter’s silver hair waved freely at shoulder length with only a pair of googles to keep it out of his eyes. 

“Your roots are starting to show again kid, people think I dye my hair silver cos I’m a teenager and a problem kid and all, but they will ask questions if you start showing white roots.” 

“I’ll help you dye it tonight Ororo, I promise, and you are _not_ a problem kid” Charles patted Peter on the back and made his way to the oven, knowing that every mutant in the house could starve if he didn’t prepare breakfast himself. So he rapidly set to toast some bread and make scrambled eggs. Raven already had a substantial amount of coffee brewing, as she was hardly coherent before coffee. 

“I like it better when Raven does it”

The multiple on the locks on the door shuffled and a moment later a well-rested Alex appeared. He waved to no one in particular and everybody greeted him in a nonverbal way as well. 

“Sorry love, I’m going out with Emma tonight” Raven mouthed moved that Ororo preferred her. This was met with Charles perfectly exercised ‘don’t come home late’ look. Raven munched through a half defrosted croissant and rolled her eyes. _Alex sleeps out all the time_

_You are a young lady_

_That’s sexist_

“You are stuck with me and Peter then.” He directed his attention again to the little girl who now puffed in dissatisfaction from under the felt halt that quickster had stuffed on her head. 

“Uh nop, I’m going out with Remy tonight.” And that was when the entire room fell silent. Raven almost chocked on her coffee. Alex made his way to the kitchen in an almost menacing manner and Charles left the frying pan unattended as he turned around and spoke loud and clear. “NO, absolutely no and no.” His voice was loaded with the sort of fury that only an aggravated parent can produce. 

“You are not going back with that asshole.” This was Alex who was now well invading Peter’s personal space and practically shouting. Hank was quite surprised at this; Alex wasn’t exactly the most loving brother towards Peter, he was mostly annoyed by him and made rude remarks once in a while, he was also not too supportive of Pete’s orientation, which really came to show you what kind of a dickhead Remy was. 

Remy was five years Peter’s senior and the most troubled and trouble making guy you could ever find, unemployed except if you consider petty crime an occupation, in which case he had his hands full with work. He was also manipulative with Peter and irresponsible as hell. Although Peter had never confirmed that they were going out the whole family knew about it and after all the hell that he had put Peter through even Alex wanted the chance to break his nose. 

“He is an idiot” Scotty’s high pitched voice came from the other end of the room before Peter had any time to make a case for himself, so the teenager only shrugged and went back to his breakfast making point of not taking his eyes from his cereal until Raven hurried him out; his sister was the most comprehensive one, so at least he wouldn’t get more remarks on it during the school ride. 

_Hank please keep an eye on him this afternoon, we can’t have him going back to that…_

Hank nodded silently. It would be enough to stick around Peter and Gambit wouldn’t want to hang out with Peter’s awkward brother. They had to hurry if they were to drop Scotty and Ororo at school and head for Columbia afterwards, Charles had a class to teach and Hank a class to take. From the hall Charles eyed Alex dreading as always that the next time he came home he would find a drafting letter on the mailbox.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Emma was the prettiest, sharpest and most interesting girl at the office. She had literally everything: the looks, the voice, that wavy shiny blonde hair and she always seemed to know exactly what people wanted. She could cast quite a shadow over any girl in her proximity, but for Raven that was okay. Outside from her family Emma was one of the few other mutants that she hanged out with, a few years older than her Emma was technically her boss, or at least the one she answered to at work. They worked as secretaries at a copy write branch of a publicity firm and though they were incredibly different they were also quite fond of each other.

Raven spotted her easily on the bar; she was wearing a tight white cocktail dress and some tremendous stilettos to go with it. She was smoking a long pink cigarette and threw her head back while laughing at a gentleman’s remark. Upon seeing Raven she dismissed the lad and waved in her direction. 

“Sorry, the subway was a nightmare; I had to wait for a second train.” Raven shrugged and ordered a beer, while she lost her jacket to the chair. 

“Never mind that, this gentleman who is just leaving kept me company for a bit” Emma gave a very intent yet polite gaze to the fellow who simply took his glass and left a little disappointed. 

“I have some exciting news to tell you about” She leaned in closer, with naughty yet mysterious grin on her face, holding her martini with one hand and resting her cigarette on the ashtray with the other. 

“I hooked up with a revolutionary”

A revolutionary? The images of Che Guevara and urban guerrilla popped in Raven’s head, a guy with a long beard and bullet belt across his chest. What on earth was exciting about that?

“No, don’t be silly none of that Che stuff, that’s disgusting. No this guy was some sort of activist, some sort of mutants’ rights advocate, and he was insanely hot and powerful.”

“Really? What could he do?”

“He moves metal and he’s got some mutant kinks that I can’t even tell you about. Anyway I hooked up with him last Friday and he invited me to this mutant rally/protest thing tomorrow.” She took a puff of her cigarette and said casually “So _we_ are going” 

“I can’t, you know that Charles would have a heart attack.”

“Oh come on girl, live a little.” The older blonde said as she tapped her martini glass with her beer pint. 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

That Hank had come to pick him up at school was itself embarrassing. He felt his cheek grow red the moment that he saw the blue eyed boy waiting for him leaning on the handrail outside, more so because Remy was waiting for him at the other side of the street, leaning way more casually into a wall and smoking something that didn’t look like tobacco. 

“What are you doing here?” his voice was bitter and frustrated.

Hank shuffled various reasons for his presence here, he wanted to pin it entirely on Charles, but being honest he detested the idea of his little brother (or you know whatever they were) being abused by Remy as anyone else in the family. Pietro rarely ever listened to Hank, but he was still the older one and Charles gave him a certain authority at home.

“I’m here to make sure that you don’t something stupid.” His voice did tremble and he made his best effort in sounding older and looking down on Pietro in a manner that made him feel a little bit intimidated. 

Peter dropped his gaze nervously, and ran a hand across his silver shinning hair. “Look I appreciate the concern and all but I know what I’m doing, I’m not a little kid anymore and…”

His voice trailed off as he saw the other mutant approach, his brown raincoat moving decidedly their way.

“Is this wanker giving you a hard time?” Remy was older and much more menacing than scrawny Hank could ever hope to be, he felt immediately thrown off.

Peter’s expression was that of someone deeply uncomfortable. On one hand the fact that Remy came over to help him out made him feel a little bit too elated, but he didn’t want trouble, not like this, not with Hank.

“Peter lets go home. Come on. Now” Hank could feel a thread of blue hair tensing up on his back. He didn’t want to hang around for one more minute. 

“No.” Peter regained his cocky self at being bossed around and met Hank’s gaze in a challenging way that made him look even younger, though fiercer. 

“You heard him. Pietro doesn’t want to, respect his decision, he is serious, trust me I know him.” Remy grinned widely mocking him and putting his arm around Peter, talking all too fast imitating the quickster. 

Perhaps it was the arrogant pedantic tone of Remy or the fact that he had the nerve to say the word ‘respect’, but something stirred inside of Hank, something very much savage.

“RESPECT? What on earth do you know about respect?” He was tugging at the boy’s raincoat and shouting. “Do you know him? So you know what’s better for him?” He pushed the boy against the hand rail, unaware of who might be looking at them, Remy’s fists clenched and as soon as he regained his balance he pushed Hank away as hard as he could, making him stagger.

“Get the fuck off me, you brute.”

“Oh no, I’m not done here.” Hank grabbed him again except this time he shoved him much harder. “If you respect him so much please tell me when the _fuck_ where you when he got arrested for your _bullshit_? Or when he was puking his brains out for the _shit drugs_ that you gave him?”  
This time Remy wasn’t so subtle and pushed him back just long enough to produce a playing card from his inner pocket and charging it with energy, blasting it at Hank’s chest. This sent Hank crashing a few meters away. It hadn’t been a very strong blow, but enough to make a point. “Don’t touch me”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Now Peter was mad and that was never good, this time it was him shoving the older boy back. “He is family, you moron.”  
Remy knew just how fast Peter could be when fighting so he acted quickly and grabbed his wrists before he had any chance of hitting him; this was again the wrong thing to do as. Hurt flashed on the silver haired boy, at such an early assumption that he was going to fight him. He pulled half-heartedly to get away, but Remy didn’t let go, instead he tried to bring a very reluctant Peter into his arms, this was again the worst thing that he could have done.

The scene absolutely infuriated Hank who now had no time even to think. The transformation itself happened all too quickly for him to do anything about it and the next second he had launched himself over Remy and sent him crashing against the opposite wall. He even actually roared as he punched him in the face, effectively breaking his nose. He only had a second to register the screams of horror that went around him, because then he was moving, the streets flashed like a giant blur before his eyes and it took him a moment to realize that Peter was moving him, running him away. By the time they reached the apartment he was already going back to his human form.

Peter let go then. His eyes where glassy and he seemed filled by a silent anger, his hands were shaking and he did not meet Hank’s gaze. Hank noticed that Remy had left marks on Peter’s wrists. They didn’t speak for a long time, long enough for Charles to rush home after an urgent school call and find them sitting on opposite edges of the living room in absolute furious silence. 

Charles stormed into the apartment, making a point of banging the door against the wall at his appearance. “Come here, now, both of you.” 

_No running or I will freezy you_.

“I was in the middle of a lecture when I received an urgent call from your principal Peter. Exactly what happened?” Both mutants had approached Charles slowly and stood before him, head down and refused to be the first to talk.

“Hank?” He cursed his luck; of course Charles would hold him responsible being the older one, the one that was supposed to not be a teenager anymore.

“Remy Lebeau happened” No matter how much of an adult Hank was supposed to be he was not about to incriminate himself, nor accept any responsibility whatsoever. He rubbed his hands and purposefully looked behind Charles head, for once putting up a cocky teenager attitude. 

“Elaborate please”

Peter wasn’t talking, he was still fuming, and for what Charles could gather he had a thousand insults ready to shoot. 

“I went to Peter’s school, like _you_ asked me to, but Remy was already there and he started being a jerk. I got a little over the edge and pushed him, but he attacked me with some playing card that burned and threw me back” Charles actually frowned in consternation at that. “I was going to stand back but he looked like he was hurting Peter, just look at his wrists, and I became the thing, the blue thing and I think I broke his nose and Peter brought us here”. Charles was sincerely worried now and a quick look at Peter’s hands confirmed the story, or at least part of it. 

The fact that Pietro didn’t try to talk over Hank’s voice and defend himself already showed how serious this was. 

“Hank, are you hurt?” He considered for a moment saying that yes he was and he needed Charles’ attention as much as Peter and that he wanted to be treated in the same way. But he felt Charles’ presence in his head and desisted. 

“No, it didn’t burn for long”

“Okay, please go to your room.”

_We are not done, you know I love you just as much, but I need to talk to Peter_

Hank slammed the door after him, not because he was feeling that mad anymore but because he felt he should make a statement. Perhaps he would have bitterly mulled for the events for the hours to come, wallowing in the unfairness of it all, but not long after he laid on his bed he heard Peter’s frantic complaints followed by just equally frantic sobs and Hank put a pillow over his head, not wanting any more involvement with the boy (either physical or emotional).

Then something caught his eye, on the night table that Alex and he shared laid a thick envelope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for making Remy into such an asshole, I actually liked him, but well for the sakes of the plot. 
> 
> Also this is 1973 so the drafting is still going on.
> 
> I can't decide between Pietro and Peter.
> 
> I promise that Cherik is coming. I'm just building it up.


	3. Rights here, rights now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The streets of New York are always a blast, even if there is a protest going on. Erik Lensherr honours us with his presence. Charles has a day with his little kids and well, things will go wrong, faster...

Charles realized that he had been scribbling out numbers for the last half an hour, probability numbers that did not relate in any way to his students. He had been at the verge of his nerves all day long, and this was a Saturday. As soon as the sun was up he had followed and prepared a quick breakfast for the younger members of the family, leaving the rest to fend themselves around the kitchen. He had even taken the subway for such a short ride, but he simply needed to get away from what he fought every day for to be a home, something that proved to be a titanic quest these days. He sighed deeply at the remembrance of his younger teenager bursting into tears at the rendition of that afternoon’s event. After what felt like hours of comforting the boy, Raven and Alex had arrived, the former more than a little bit tipsy and the other elusive as ever. Hank had refused all contact as well and the kids had been particularly plaintiff… He had retorted to sleeping on the couch to give Pietro some privacy. “Sleeping” of course was an euphemism for tossing around in the sheets until dawn.

Now as he sipped a coldish coffee he realised that he had effectively wasted a whole morning’s work on pretty much nothing. He couldn’t avert his obligations but his mind was all over the place; especially with Alex, his elusiveness was troubling, he was making a point of spending as little time as possible on the flat and he avoided engaging in conversation. Pietro would learn his lesson, Hank could deal with being awkward, but if Alex got drafted there was nothing that Charles could do, he lacked the necessary influences. He sighed ever more deeply; ever since Charles powers began to develop more strongly he’d made a vow not to pry into his family’s mind, but he was so tempted to do so now.

Then the phone rang. It took him a while to get a hold of the receiver because it was buried under stacks of paper, and as soon as he picked up a little flat voice confronted him.

“You promised” Again it took him a few seconds to understand but when he did his aggravation escalated. He was the worst father ever.

“I… Ororo I know I promised but something _really_ important came up at work.” It was museum day. He has promised Scotty and Ororo that he would take them no matter what to check out the new installation at the Museum of Natural History, and that later they’d have a walk through the park. He had promised. The girl on the other line scoffed.

“You promised. Scott is ready with his trainers and his backpack on. He is waiting for you, we both were.” He could imagine his eight year old swinging his legs back and forth, staring at Ororo and wondering where daddy was… He knew Ororo didn’t believe him, he knew that he had to turn in this work today, and he also knew that it was a compromise.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” The sudden cheer in the other line was enough to make him resolute. Yes, this work was unpostponable, he could lose his job and that would be dramatic on all of them, but he refused to fail all of his children.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Raven had missed out on most of yesterday’s drama (bless Emma) and had only figured out what had happened when she and Alex had begun to pierce together Hank’s and Charles’ versions in the morning. She was not sure how she felt about the whole mess, sure everybody hated Remy, but at the end of the day that was Peter’s choice, not theirs. She and Alex had tacitly (as the boy barely spoke these days) agreed to look out for their siblings, Alex would hang out with Hank and she was to take Peter’s mind off things.

Still in her blue pyjamas, Raven entered Charles’ room with a soft knock and a plate bursting with pancakes and honey. The curtains were drawn and the air was stuffy, but Pietro was already awake, apparently going through one of Charles’ books. He looked up from the book, his gaze calm and cold but attentive. The boy probably expected to be reprimanded.

“Care for a bite?” She presented him with the food and a smile that hoped to be understanding, and she waited for him to nod to come closer. Raven sat on the far edge of the bed and set the plate between them, not wanting to invade his personal space.

Pietro pulled the covers off him and straightened himself into a sitting position, he slowly begun to eat in silence. Raven was appalled by Peter’s defeated attitude but she tried to respect his mood and didn’t jump into conversation. When their plate was halfway eaten and his shoulders seemed a little less tense, she finally dared speak.

“So, I’m going to this mutant rally later.” Upon seeing her brother’s sudden confused expression she elaborated. “It’s like a peace rally but for mutants’ rights, like a march or something like that I’m coming with Emma.” She waved her hand discarding the matter as simple small talk, but the quickster had immediately got hold of it.

“Did you tell Charles?” The silver haired boy raised an eyebrow. He looked almost innocent and apologetic like that.

“No.”

Silence fell between the two of them but they didn’t drop their gaze, both assessing each other’s intentions.

“Can I come?” Now a smile was beginning to crack, perhaps not at his lips, but certainly on his eyes.

In a matter of minutes they were out the door, Pietro having picked a truly bizarre silver jacket along with ripped jeans and his largest pair of goggles. Raven wore plain clothes, blouse, jeans, and her black coat; it wouldn’t matter once they got there.

As they approached Madison Square Garden, the population around them slowly began to change. Even in the subway Raven saw some mysterious people heading in the same direction: a blonde tall guy with a strangely large jacket that seemed to hide an uneven hump on his back, a fretting lanky boy with wavy red hair who looked over his shoulder every now and then, a woman with a ridiculously long purplish red hair that reached her ankles, and so on, mysterious people.

Soon this mysterious people became a huge noisy crowd on movement. The most flamboyant hairstyles and colours swept past them at a slow pace. Though the crowd moved slowly the air was filled with chanter and yelling, the environment wasn’t completely festive, there was a pang of anxiety. 

Peter was pleased with the strange hair colours and joked about it. “Wait til I tell Ororo about this.” But he was visibly tense. Though the people around them were amazing they were also too showy. Neither of the teenagers were used to show their mutations carelessly, it made them anxious to see other doing it. While Raven was dumbstruck by the mutants that showed their natural skin tones (which ranged from deep green, to redish, purplish and silver) she felt her conviction swaying. Some of the mutants had really complex physical mutations: spikes, deformations, oddly sized parts of their body, fur, wings, tails, horns, and so on. How did these people managed to just live? And everyone seemed so angry and excited…

“Keep close to me, no wandering off” The way she said it was enough to have Pietro silently nodding. He wasn’t making any jokes anymore, his eyes scanned worriedly over all the posters and signs around them denouncing discrimination and hate crimes. Peter knew that these things happened but he never purposely thought about it.

“There is Emma”

Raven waved her way rather effusively. She was uneasy and Emma’s face was a light in the darkness, except it wasn’t. At first she didn’t even saw Raven; she walked behind a tall man who seemed to be giving out orders around him. Her face did light up when she spotted Raven, but she had to pull the man’s leather jacket to make him stop for a second. When the siblings got there they realized that there were other mutants with them as well. 

“Erik this is Raven a shape shifter and her brother Peter a speedster.” The man who was now paying attention to the teens extended his hand for shaking, which Raven did awkwardly.

“Is that your natural form?”

That was rather harsh to ask on a first meeting, but the man himself was harsh, his icy blue eyes and hard jaw gave him an unforgiving aspect.

Raven didn’t exactly know what to answer, not wanting now to reveal herself to this man with a foreign accent and a tremendously firm handshake. Pietro looked at the other members of the group and reached out his hand to them.

“Astra” A scared looking young lady with black hair replied.

“Toad” A boy with green sickish skin and a very, very large tongue. 

“Lorelei” The woman with the long messy hair offered him a cigarette and Peter felt oddly small at rejecting it.

Erik was still staring at Raven, searching her eyes unamused. She finally decided to just transition for a second, to let him see what she really looked like.

“You are beautiful, you shouldn’t hide”. 

Though she blushed at the comment she couldn’t help but feel invaded and catching Emma’s murderous look she turned to her brother and resumed walking by his side, without further conversation, she didn't transitioned back though. Pietro held her hand and kept close, walking at a normal phase. They were mostly ignored by the group. The man, Erik, continued giving a speech about mutant pride with passion, but now and then he would steal glances at the siblings, neutral glances that seemed neither friendly not threatening. 

_Sorry about that, this was not what I had in mind. The guy is a pretentious rude asshole…_

Raven nodded and squeezed her brother’s hand tighter. Emma appeared to be truthfully sorry and just as uneasy, more than that she was personally offended that she and her friend were having such an awful time. 

The sun reached its highest point. The tarmac of the streets was burning hot and the uncanny crowd seemed to become angrier at every second. The noise was no longer contained to chatter and people were walking faster and faster. In the distance Raven could almost hear sirens.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“When will I get my glasses papa?” Scotty’s voice was still high pitched and sweet. They had come to a rest at the Oceanic mammal’s hall. Above their heads the silent skeleton of a whale sailed across the air, Ororo couldn’t take her eyes of it.

“Soon Scotty, soon.” Charles knew that the little kid was really set back by his sight, being blindfold could do significant damage to a boy, specially such a vivacious boy. He wanted to lead all sorts of adventures and had to be contempt with keeping a low profile. Scotty didn’t seem convinced but he didn’t protest. 

“How old is that whale?” 

“A few centuries back, why?”

“It’s impressive” Ororo was observant and respectful but her mind made the strangest associations. “Do you think we are going to die like it?”

Charles frowned severely at this morbid thought. The hall was practically empty, which was a wonder on such a warm Saturday afternoon. 

“What do you mean?” He was sitting in between his children, one arm at Scott mess of a hair and the other holding a museum map.

“Nothing, it just seems calm. Do you think she mutated?” The girl sprang from the bench and strolled towards the middle of the room, where she stood watching the whale.

Charles flinched at this and double checked that no one was paying attention before replying.

“Yes, we all do. This one probably became a smaller whale, better adapted for nowadays seas.” 

Scott had followed his sister curiously and stared at the whale very intently as if wanting to discover what made his sister so interested. He tried really hard but the blindfold didn’t let him see as clearly and it seemed just like bones.

“I like that idea _Charles_ ” The older man smiled sadly at this, Ororo knew that calling him Charles made him somewhat sad, but it was a nice thought on his daughter/protégé. When he looked down Scotty was stretching his arms to him in a demanding manner and he had no choice but to pick the eight year old up.

“Perhaps we should call it a day.”

He hadn’t finished talking when they heard a loud blast outside, followed by the sudden alarming sound of sirens. Screams and frightened images reached Charles’ brain without him even trying to see into anybody’s mind. Something very wrong was going on outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this one took me so long, and that not much happens here, but Chales and Erik are about to meet. I'd love feedback! Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Age table:
> 
> Charles Xavier 31  
> Raven 18  
> Alex Summers 17  
> Hank McCoy 17  
> Pietro Maximoff 16  
> Ororo Munroe 9  
> Scott Summers 8


End file.
